Poplar ~ Tree of the Autumnal Equinox ~ # 22 of 30 ~SOLD

“Autumn is a second spring

when every leaf is a flower.”

~ Albert Camus

Today marks the autumn equinox this year. Equinox means "equal night" and on March 21st and Sept. 22nd, 2013, the day and night are of equal length. The autumnal equinox traditionally has been a time of harvest and thanksgiving. Spiritually, it is a celebration of "going within", preparing for the darkness and a kind of symbolic death and resurrection. Now daylight will continue to decline until December 21st, marking the winter solstice, when the days once again slowly begin to get longer. Throughout the history of mankind, many legends, rituals and beliefs are centered around the changing of the seasons. There are as many varied beliefs as there are cultures. One of the most interesting I found was the Celtic Connection of the Autumnal Equinox to the Poplar Tree. Do you know of any you'd like to share?

#22 of 30

Myths, Fables, Folk Tales and Legends

Moving into the Dark 4" x 6" original hand painted watercolor on Yupo paper Acid-free Mat w/ Backing in sleeve - 5" x 7" Signed and certified by the artist.

Moving into the Dark

4" x 6" original hand painted watercolor on Yupo paper

Acid-free Mat w/ Backing in sleeve - 5" x 7"

Signed and certified by the artist.

• SOLD

“But then fall comes,

kicking summer out on its treacherous ass

as it always does one day sometime after the midpoint of September,

it stays awhile like an old friend that you have missed.

It settles in the way an old friend will settle into your favorite chair

and take out his pipe and light it and then fill the afternoon with

stories of places he has been and things he has done

since last he saw you.”

~ Stephen King

Many thanks to Katherine Thomas for suggesting the subject of today's legend.

Happy fall y'all!

Spring Equinox, March 20th, 2011

FYI - This Sunday marks the Spring (or Vernal) Equinox. It officially brings the "First Day Of Spring" here in the northern hemisphere. Day and night will be about equal in length on March 2oth because the sun will be positioned above the equator all over the world.

Spring arose on the garden fair,
Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;
And each flower and herb on Earth's dark breast
rose from the dreams of its wintry rest.
~Percy Bysshe Shelley, "The Sensitive Plant"

"Happy New Year!"

"The celebration of the new year is the oldest of all holidays and was not always January 1, which is purely arbitrary. Observed in ancient Babylon about 4000 years go, the New Year began with the first New Moon after the Vernal Equinox (first day of spring), a more logical time to begin a new year." ~ wilstar.com

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More quotations on the "The New Year":

"I made no resolutions for the New Year. The habit of making plans, of criticizing, sanctioning and molding my life, is too much of a daily event for me." ~ Anaïs Nin

"We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day." ~ Edith Lovejoy Pierce

Reposted from my January 2007 Spirit Art Letters.